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Now that Marquez is back in the title mix after his win at Austin, the aim is to exploit this favourable time and make up more points to the Yamaha pair. Jerez could be just the place because while in the last two years it was Lorenzo and then Rossi to win on the M1, the corners also go down well with the Honda.
In 2013 HRC did the double with Pedrosa and Marc and the following season it was all about Marquez. In addition, there's the 'home factor', difficult to quantify but it gives all riders an extra push.
“I’m happy the next round is back in Spain after three flyaway GPs, because racing at home and in front of my fan club is always special - points out Marquez - Of course our win in Austin gave the whole team more confidence and motivation to keep up the hard work and to try to understand how to further improve our bike’s setup."
A fundamental task when it comes to a track like the Spanish one. The two days of private testing completed in late February may also prove useful.
“From this point of view, Jerez is one of the most difficult and tricky circuits from that point of view. It’s kind of an ‘old school’ track: very short, very narrow, with heavy acceleration points and strong braking areas. You have to make the bike turn well but you also need good stability under braking, because that’s where you can get good lap times. It’s a circuit where our opponents are always very fast, but anyway, I think we’ll be able to do well if we work well starting on Friday morning.”
While Marquez is revved up after the American win, his team-mate Dani Pedrosa is no less motivated after a podium finish in Texas. Dani hits hard when it's his day and he too is pleased to be racing at home.
"Jerez is a track that I like a lot. It has a bit of everything: tight corners, fast corners, changes of direction, some ‘wheelie areas - he describes it - One of my best memories there is when I made my debut in MotoGP (2006) and I finished on the podium. I hope to keep the momentum from Austin and to continue the progress, improving our bike setup more, especially in maintaining a fast rhythm and faster lap time. Now we know more about the bike, what we need to improve, and what changes we have to make on the setup, so we definitely look forward to taking another step in Jerez. My fan club will be there and we want to have another good weekend in front of them and all our fans!”
